queensland NPD 14 June 08

[Rocket75]

Kath spent this afternoon in the city at High Tea, so what did I do…fishing of course.

Arrived at approx 3.00pm to try my luck in an area that I had not fished since the water level came up. I parked in the first car park before Bullocky’s Rest and walked down the mown grass to the water’s edge.

Had quite a few fruitless casts and lost a spinnerbait so I made a move thinking to head to Bullocky’s.

I made a slight detour on my way to the car and followed some tracks through the long grass. I continued casting without luck and was contemplated another move when I got my first hit for the day. After a short but tuff fight against tight drag, a healthy low 40cm bass hit the brag mat. A purple Ausspin spinnerbait did the trick, and I was quick to get both fish and lure back in the water ASAP. In quick time I had another smaller specimen on the bank and the afternoon was looking good.

Next cast, slowly working my lure back towards the bank and it got slammed.

Rod loaded and heavy drag feeding smoothly, I could tell it was a better class of fish.

With a 3-6kg Pflueger Trion rod, Shimano Sahara 4000 reel, 6lb fireline and 12 pound fluorocarbon leader I thought I was a good show of getting it in despite the myriad of snags and submerged grass. Wrong.

In short time I was bricked in some visible weedy growth 15m or so out from the bank.

Just as I was contemplating a swim, the line and leader parted at the snag and I was down a spinnerbait.

Determined to get revenge I upped the leader to 16lb and doubled its length to approx 3m.

Swapping to a G-Vibe (cause they are cheaper!), I cast again, daring the beast to come back for seconds. What followed was the best lure session I have ever had.

At one stage I got 3 fish in the low 40’s in 3 casts…happy I was!

There were a couple of fellas fishing just up from me, closer to my original spot, and I called out to them that there was a school over my way. They had heard the action of the last 3 casts and were keen to get amongst the action. Thinking that I recognized one of them, I asked “AFO?â€Â…

Fishyman and his Dad had come to join the fun. To make it and even 4, Aaron rocks up at the same time! AFO takes over NPD.

In short time all 4 of us were into fish, with Fishyman landing a 50cm model on his spinnerbait. Congrats mate, lovely fish.

Aaron also landed some great looking bass, biggest going approx 51cm to the tip.

Fishyman Snr was having fun hooking lots of medium sized models. A few were dropped whilst extracting them from the weed, but the singing drag from his spin outfit was a sure sign of a good afternoon.

I switched lures a number of time over the following 1.5 hours or so, sometimes due to attrition (RIP G-Vibe and spinnerbait), sometimes just to try something different.

Aaron donated a number of spinnerbaits to a large beast that owned him in a big way.

Note to self, don’t take a knife to a gun fight.

I was fishing my outfit harder than I ever had before. Drag was screwed up to the point where I struggled to strip line off by hand. Even so, some of the 40-50cm models still took line as they tried their hardest to gain freedom in the aquatic jungle below.

As I neared double figures, I found that the G-Vibe was gaining the most attention.

A long cast, pause for a few seconds then a slow wind with occasional rod tip twitches ended with a strike or hookup on 1 out of 3 casts for the rest of the evening.

The other guys were all on the spinnerbaits and continued to get action on either side of me.

As darkness encroached on our perfect afternoon, the fish just kept biting.

If I could, I would still be there, but sanity prevailed and my companions all headed for home and I joined them.

Without a doubt my best bass lure session to date, I ended up with 16 Bass, size ranging from the odd 20cm, right up to low 50cm. Most of the fish landed were mid 30 to mid 40cm and went off like rockets.

Successful lures for me were Ausspin spinnerbaits in silver/blue and light purple, and 11 gram G-Vibes in bight orange/yellow and gold/black.

Thanks for reading, hope that some of my excitement translated into the report, cause it was a great afternoon. Good to share it with some AFO mates too.

Rocket

[MichaelJ]

great session there

how far did u have to walk through long grass?

[Rocket75]

20m or so, quite easy really. fishing waste deep though!

[Aaron H]

I gotta say my waders were a great investment mate (although there was a near oops navigating a fish past the weeds), don't know how u survived in just the board shorts mate, although fishyman went for a dip to extract a bass had to be the bravest (or silliest thing:P )I've seen in a while

[Dinodadog]

Well done Rocket its a nice feeling when they keep attacking

[mangler]

Good on ya mate, sounds like a ripper session!

Cheers,

Matt

[brisfisher]

awsome session!n a enjoyable read:)well done

[Feral]

On ya Rocket!

[tacklebox]

Rocket75 wrote:

Most of the fish landed were mid 30 to mid 40cm and went off like rockets.

LOL!! :laugh: great session mate. who makes g-vibes?

[Cowfish13]

Awesome session Rocket:woohoo: Gonna have to get up there as soon as exams are over:cheer:

G-vibes are made by Kokoda. They work well, but they're almost an exact copy of the Jackall TN60, just not as good quality.

About 1/5th the price though:cheer:

[fishyman]

nice report rocket

you sure were braining them yesterday

glad the pic i took worked out allright